I give up!!!!

I just got done destroying my cycled tank by treating my tank with maracyn and maracyn II. For 2 of my panda cories that had white fuzzy patches on them...they both ended up dying. I just added TSS to get my cycle back and now I notice that another one of my panda cories has part of his tail missing, it's red around the base of his tail and the remaining part of his tail has white on it (not fuzzy)...and another panda cory has slight tail fin damage.
I give up! I'm not medicating my tank again. I think these panda cories are adorable and look awesome in my tank....but this is driving me crazy.

Hey, you might want to try mixing PIMAfix and MELAfix. It won't mess with your tanks cycling and it is herbal remedy. I have done a lot of reading on mixing the two of them. I have successfully cured tailrol and ich with them. I hope no one is sick of me advocating the stuff (no I do not work for them) but I have had awesome results more than once.

Either Pimafix or Melafix could be very useful in treating tailrot in a corydoras, but Melafix is potentially deadly to the dwarf gourami. If there's a slip in dosage, and too much goes in, the Melafix will wreak havoc on its labyrinth organ and it will drown.

Another point: "Herbal" does not mean "safe." Digitalin are very effective herbal remedies for certain heart problems. Get the dosage wrong, and the result is fatal. Atropine is an herbal remedy for a number of health issues. Again, the dosage is very important. Clove oil, which is the effective ingredient in Pimafix, can depress a fish's system enough to knock it out, or even kill it.
Not saying herbal remedies are bad or ineffective. Just that they are no more or less safe than other medications.

With all of that in mind, I suggest the same thing with these two meds as I do with all others: Do the minimum necessary. In this case, treat with Pimafix, first, as the gourami won't react negatively to it.
If that fails, an addition of Melafix (with a careful eye on dosing: I wouldn't go above 1/2 normal strength) might help.

Well the cory that was the worse of the two was dead this morning. I do not have a q tank.
I'm worried I'm going to end up losing all of my panda cories. No one around here sells them so I had to online order them. If these cute little guys don't work out what other cory would work in my 29G?

Any but the emerald corys will work. They are all essentially the same. Since you have small fish, you wouldn't need more than a 5 gallon for a quarantine tank. It is really important for long term success.

Any but the emerald corys will work. They are all essentially the same. Since you have small fish, you wouldn't need more than a 5 gallon for a quarantine tank. It is really important for long term success.

Sirdarksol - I have read articles that say that it is not harmful to labrynth fish.... Although, I have never dumped a bunch in with a Betta!!

Click to expand...

I've heard the argument that "these people used Melafix without harming their bettas, therefore, Melafix doesn't harm bettas." Problem is that this is readily disproved by a number of instances in which bettas and other labyrinth fish have died after being treated with Melafix. I have seen far too many accounts of this, including several on Fishlore, for me to discount. The descriptions were identical: Treating fish for some minor issue like the beginning of fin rot or a small wound. Fish was acting just fine. Shortly after using Melafix, the fish was dead.

As Jaysee indicated, the issue is that, when overdosed by even a small amount, melaleuca oil severely irritates the labyrinth organ, causing it to be unable to exchange gas. Since most labyrinth fish actually need to breathe air now and then (you can drown a betta by not allowing it access to the surface), they drown. Since our bettas are generally kept in small tanks, even an extra drop or two could be dangerous.

Though API denies it, I believe that this is the reason that BettaFix is simply a diluted form of Melafix. You end up dosing the same quantity of melaleuca oil, but the fact that it's diluted means that you're less likely to overdose any significant amount.

Like I said, it's not that it's not useful. Just that it is a risk to use, so why not start with the less risky one?

I won't be risking the life of my DG by using any of those products.
So I need a 5G Q tank...what exactly do I need?
I'm assuming filter, heater.
How do I keep this thing cycled if there's nothing/nobody in it? Do I have to keep it up and running all the time?
I guess educate me about q tanks please.
Then let's hope I can convince my hubby to let me get one.

I won't be risking the life of my DG by using any of those products.
So I need a 5G Q tank...what exactly do I need?
I'm assuming filter, heater.
How do I keep this thing cycled if there's nothing/nobody in it? Do I have to keep it up and running all the time?
I guess educate me about q tanks please.
Then let's hope I can convince my hubby to let me get one.

I won't be risking the life of my DG by using any of those products.
So I need a 5G Q tank...what exactly do I need?
I'm assuming filter, heater.
How do I keep this thing cycled if there's nothing/nobody in it? Do I have to keep it up and running all the time?
I guess educate me about q tanks please.
Then let's hope I can convince my hubby to let me get one.

No it doesnt need to be set up all the time. You can seed the filter to use on the QT tank with media from the main tank filter for an instant cycle, or do large daily WC's (Iv done it with good success, you also wont need a filter in such cases) provided you do it right.